Couple of issues

"Thinking about electronic ign

"Thinking about electronic ignition conversion in my 70s 318's. Engines were rebuilt and not used for 10 years until last year.

Tired of messing about with points and parts.

What is the best electronic conversion kit and could I do the work myself - I am fairly skilled.

Second issue. I have a pair of Paragon PVs and vee drives that work but have never been rebuilt.

I am now getting a clunking noise from the port tranny when it goes into forward and both of them do not find neutral easily - have to jiggle the controls back and forth.

Do service, ie rebuild, manuals exist for these anywhere? Are they tough to rebuild? Does anyone have experience with these?

Thanks

Mark"

"I replaced my existing M360 d

"I replaced my existing M360 distributors with all electronic Mallory YLM579AV's. It should work with the existing coil and ballast resistor. It is a little pricey, but you should be able to get one for around $270. No more points or condensor and no dwell issues. It uses a simple 3 wire hook up: ignition, coil - and ground."

"Mark
Did mine with Mopar

"Mark
Did mine with Mopar performance electronic conversions, best $500 I spent on the engines, comes with new billet distributors, control box , wiring, even a new ballast resistor, took about an hour to change both"

"Hey Mark - I recently convert

"Hey Mark - I recently converted my '70 318 to electronic ignition with the Pertronix kit. Telling you that it's a simple DIY is an understatement. It's as easy as popping the cap, pulling out the points unit, dropping in the Pertronix unit and running the wires to the coil.

My coil was pretty old so I replaced it with one of Pertronix performance coils. The whole ball of wax, conversion kit and coil, ran me about $110 ($70 and $40 if I recall).

Works great."

"I did the Pertronix Ignitor l

"I did the Pertronix Ignitor ll conversion. My M440 engine only has 670 hrs, so the mechanical part of the distributor was fine and I saw no need to buy a new distributor. It takes less time to instal the kit than it used to take to change points and condenser. Very simple. And I got a Pertronix low impedance coil and threw out the goofy ballast resistor, since you don't need it with their Ignitor ll kit. The spark is strong enough that I could open the spark plug gap to 0.042" as suggested by Pertronix. Total cost was under $200 and now I have a big fat blue spark, every time, all the time. Using a spark tester, I went from 25Kvolt to 55Kvolt. Big, blue spark."

Interesting! I wonder if that

Interesting! I wonder if that would improve gas mileage as well?

Jeff

"A word on these goofy ballast

"A word on these goofy ballast resistors: Here is why they were needed: In the event that the ignition is on, the engine is not running, and the points are closed, the coil is basically shorted to ground. So the coil will get hot, and possibly the points, too. To prevent that, they put a big, giant resistor in the circuit, and it’s job is to limit the current in that case (engine not running/ignition on/points closed). But like everything in life, there is a tradeoff: this “ballast resistor” also limits the current thru the coil during normal operation, too. But it works, and has worked for decades. With the advent of solid-state points, most companies have put some intelligence into the electronics. They can sense when the engine is off/ignition on/points closed, and they can automatically open the solid-state points. (Even some of the little points-conversion kits can do this) So they don’t need the ballast resistor. And you can use a low impedance coil, too. The benefit? Much higher current thru the coil during operation, resulting in much higher spark voltage when the points open."

"Sold. Thanks for the info fro

"Sold. Thanks for the info from everyone and the backgrounder from Larry.

My distributors were rebuilt as well and they have less than 100 hours on them.

I am going to switch to the Pertronix 11 next year and am looking forward to that big fat blue spark.

Even with rebuilt distributors the spark I have been getting is not what I would call, big, fat and sometimes not even blue."

"I have a 1981 318 in my Penn

"I have a 1981 318 in my Penn Yan... It is equipped with factory installed electronic ignition w / ballast resistor: NO POINTS, why is a ballast resistor required with electronic ignition? Thanx in advance... Mike..."

"Re: why is a ballast resistor

"Re: why is a ballast resistor required with electronic ignition?
If the "solid state" points can not detect the condition: (Ignition On/Motor Not Running/Points closed), then even Solid State points will still short the coil to ground, and the coil will get hot.

So solid state points need to be able to sense that, and open the points if needed. Most can do that these days. I think thats the difference betwen the Pertronix l and Pertonix ll, in fact."

Huh? The ballast resistor setu

Huh? The ballast resistor setup was designed to produce a hotter spark during cranking (12 volts to a 9 volt coil) and 9 volts during running.

Jeff

"But nothing switches a ballas

"But nothing switches a ballast resistor in or out of the circuit. It's just always there. It's wired in series with the coil. And if you try to run w/out it, see how hot your coil gets with the ignition on and the engine not running....
modern solid state points can sense there is no commutation at the points and open them, to prevent that."

"Hate to tell you how many tim

"Hate to tell you how many times I forgot to shut the ignition switch off (after testing something) and left it on for hours, running up the hour meter (and messing up my log numbers). The coil got hot then as well, but it was receiving only its customary 9 volts. Put 12 volts on it, however--like when cranking the engine (via a terminal on the solenoid)--and it would have burnt up for sure.

Jeff"

"If you look closely at the so

"If you look closely at the solenoids on most Chrysler small blcok engines you will note two large and two small terminals. One of the two small terminals comes from the "start" position of the ignition switch, the other small terminal is NOT the ground as you might guess(the ground is completed through mechanical bonding to the chassis), but rather it routes the ignition 12v directly to the plus side of the coil while the starter is cranking as Jeff mentions in previous post. Unless you have resistance wire from the ignition line to the coil "+" side(I don't know of any Chrysler's that do), you must limit the current flowing to the coil while the engine is running for more than a few seconds. The ballast resistor is critical to do this. The points or electronic "points" simply provide the ground path from the "-" side of the coil to the chassis. It might be debatable to need the ballast resistor bypassed by the starter solenoid with a new "hotter" ignition coils of today, but the ballast resistor needs to stay."

"According to the instal instr

"According to the instal instructions for the conversion kit, the ballast resistor could be removed. I took it off per those instructions, and it starts and runs fine. As advertised by the manufacturer, the control circuit in the Ignitor ll performs the same basic function as the ballast, allowing it to be removed. Apparently the Ignitor ll can sense current, adjust dwell, and can also force open the solid-state points if it does not detect commutation. It can detect if you wire it backwards, too, and it self-protects. (don't ask how I know that...)"